It ended up being a week without the two main leaders facing off in QP, where Mulcair was again absent while Harper was back in the Chamber today. And despite there being three NDP deputy leaders in the House, they nevertheless decided to have Nycole Turmel read off the scripted question about a memo at CFIA about ignoring contaminated meat for non-Japan markets. Harper responded by saying that they ensure that meat is just as safe for Canadians as for the export market. Turmel then asked about cuts to inspections, to which Gerry Ritz responded this time, saying that they were enhancing the regulatory powers, and that the NDP voted against it. Malcolm Allen followed up with more of the same, this time in English, and got much the same from Ritz in response. When Bob Rae got up for the Liberals, he hammered away on the CFIA memo, not that Harper and Ritz responded any differently.

Round two kicked off with Ruth Ellen Brosseau carrying on about the CFIA memo (Ritz: That’s absolutely not true), Olivia Chow asked about cuts to airline inspection (Lebel: Air safety is a top priority and we have enough inspectors), Peggy Nash asked about the rising trade deficit (Fast: the trade deficit is narrowing), Jack Harris and Christine Moore asked about the lack of mandatory security screening in the Delisle spy case (MacKay: National Defence takes security matters seriously), Ève Péclet asked about the changes coming to the Old Port of Montreal (Ambrose: This is about bringing good governance and good management to this organization), and Charlie Angus asked about Peter Penashue’s conflict of interest in the Muskrat Falls project (Anderson: The federal government has no involvement with this project). Wayne Easter asked about cuts to services (Menzies: Yay Economic Action Plan™!), Massimo Pacetti asked about the closure of DFO’s francophone library (Shea: We’re making these services digital), and Sean Casey asked about the closure of Veterans Affairs offices along with cuts to Service Canada (Blaney: We are investing to broaden services). Hélène LeBlanc and Peter Julian asked about the Nexen takeover (Paradis: You hate trade), and Megan Leslie asked about pipeline objectives in the face of science cuts (Anderson: The National Energy Board has the resources for these projects), and about Peter Kent’s inaction (Kent: We’re the only Canadian government to cut greenhouse gasses).

Round three saw questions on CAMR, the new mandate at CIDA, Peter Penashue’s family connections, unlisted drug shortages, that DFO library, the false accusations against someone’s constituent in Egypt leading to a death sentence, cuts at Library and Archives Canada, heavy metal dust clouds over Quebec City, and trade talks with the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Blake Richards for a dark grey suit with a pale blue-grey shirt and a navy tie and pocket square, and to Peggy Nash for a tailored black shirt and jacket with a sharp white collared shirt. Style citations go out to Cheryl Gallant for a mustard dress with a navy sweater, and to Jean Rousseau for a bright orange shirt and tie with a black suit. Dishonourable mentions goes out to Bal Gosal and Patrick Brown for each wearing a black suit with a yellow shirt and tie.